Perkoa to make up for lower output from Caribou – Trevali

8th November 2018 By: Mariaan Webb - Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor Online

A stellar production quarter from the Perkoa mine, in Burkina Faso, is keeping zinc and lead miner Trevali on track to achieve its production guidance this year, offsetting lower expected output from the Caribou mine, in New Brunswick, Canada, president and CEO Mark Cruise reported on Wednesday.

Trevali has raised the guidance for the Perkoa mine to between 172-million and 180-million pounds payable metal, from 164-million pounds to 174-million pounds, helping the company to remain on target to achieve the lower-end of its initial 2018 production guidance of 400-million pounds to 427-million pounds of zinc, announced in January this year.

To reflect the revised forecasts for Caribou and Perkoa, Trevali updated consolidated zinc guidance to between 392-million and 418-million pounds for the year. The lead guidance is 39.7-million tonnes to 42.6-million tonnes and its silver guidance is 1.40-million ounces to 1.47-million ounces.

The Caribou mine’s guidance was previously lowered to between 70-million and 75-million pounds, owing to adverse ground conditions.

The Perkoa mine produced 44.38-million pounds of zinc in the September 2018 quarter, which is a significant improvement on the 15.11-million produced a year earlier.  

The Rosh Pinah mine, in Namibia, delivered 25.06-million pounds of zinc, 968 376 lb of lead and 16 524 oz of silver. Metal sales, however, only came to 6.7-million pounds of zinc, as a result of inventory build-up owing to moisture issues impacting concentrate drying time. Trevali said that the inventory build-up would be reduced in the current quarter, with 25 472 t of zinc concentrate having been shipped in October, representing 87% of the concentrate volume produced in the third quarter.

The Caribou mine produced 18.65-million pounds of zinc, 6.10-million pounds of lead and 167 114 oz of silver, compared with 20.77-million pounds of zinc, 7.26-million pounds of lead and 220 012 oz of silver a year earlier.

The Santander mine, in Peru, also delivered less production in the quarter, mainly as a result of an illegal road blockade. Zinc production decreased to 13.5-million pounds, from 40.84-million pounds, while lead output fell to 2.09-million pounds from 3.92-million pounds and silver production decreased to 123 040 oz, from 194 214 oz.